Category: Compassion

Garbage In, Sure! But is There Garbage Out?

29/5/2013

That's one way of framing it - kinda dramatic, but somehow on point.

In the modern era here, we've all been inundated with an incredible amount of information, perspective and mythology about food. From the production of what we eat, the processing and distribution of food, to what diet we choose to eat. Lots of folks putting lots of time and words into that realm.

And, yes, there is some truth to that sentiment that says "you are what you eat." It's worthy of thinking on, of discernment and positive action. Don't get me wrong. But, what we are eating is not the entirety of what we are ingesting!

In Ayurveda - the yogic science of life - ama is the concept of anything that exists in a state of incomplete transformation. In particular, it is claimed to be a toxic byproduct generated due to improper or incomplete digestion. Often, the target of internal cleansing is this ama, which has numerous translations from Sanskrit to English: “uncooked”, “un-annealed”, “immature”, “undigested”, “non-nurturing”.

The general principle of is that all inputs, or ahara - food, relationships, environment, entertainment - must be digested as experiences. This digestion depends primarily upon the strength of our agni - the digestive fire that is the product of our tapas in practice. Otherwise they will leave residues that impede function: mental residues, emotional residues, physical residues... undigested stuck matter. A place where illness, discomfort and disease may dwell.

Let's frame it at this - you are what you ingest... ingest nutrition and benefit from it; ingest non-nutritive things and you will have to work a little harder to digest them, appropriately. We can avoid the congestion by ensuring you have time for digestion after ingestion.

Ever practiced on a full stomach?? Just doesn't work (although I used to have a rail-thin student who would tell me right before class "I just ate an entire Cinnabon"... it made me sick to my stomach)!

So, there's the cleansing diets, and the juice fasts and the multiple ways we address the inequities in our diet... but what are you watching and filling your brain with? What music are you just drinking in like Big Gulps? What gossip are you nibbling on like an unending bowl of popcorn? Same thing, we should be digesting and flushing and eliminating, not letting our minds get cluttered with meaninglessness and shite. What's getting taken in, and what is becoming ama?

What time are you putting into digesting that stuff, that ama?? Or, are you just mentally constipated, full of shit? Are you emotionally drained for others because you consume and ingest their dramas and emote them, and then can't actually process them or be involved with helping improve the situation? Are you hungry for others trials and tribulations? In person, through gossip, through the glowing screens in your life?

What are your mental digestive processes? The fire of creativity, imagination and manifestation in images, words, sounds or movements? Discernment through seated silence? Inspection and introspection - what are you doing to ensure there is a moving, flowing digestive process working up top, as well as down under?

Sometimes, we need to make some space... after a big meal, unbutton a button and take a walk. The mat and our practice can be a place where we make some space. You know how it is, you've got a lot of bills to pay and work to do; the stuff is piled all over your desk - what do you do? Well, I make piles until there is a clear space in the center of the desk. Then I bring one thing into it at a time and address it - if I discern it's a distraction, I set it aside and refocus.

This can be the metaphor for our practice - on the mat in asana, or in mindfulness or meditation. Create space, examine items one at a time, discern their import and relevance, keep what is worthy, what wisdom has been gained and learned. Then, process and address the rest of what is in there, and finally release it.

Ingest, process, digest, store, eliminate... then, give thanks and praise!

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Happy New Year - or is that Ostara - or Alban Eiler?!?

20/3/2013

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No matter how you cut it, or call it - Happy Spring! In our modern reckoning, this is the calendar day when Winter finally yields and Spring triumphs.

Today, finally, after a long season, our days and nights meet in parity. And, for all of the forthcoming days, day will win over night as we see more and more sun.

Here in ATX, most everyone I know was up late last night - or early this morning, depending on which side of the clock you choose - due to an enormous thunderstorm that swept through. It was house-shaking, roof-rippling, earth-washing natural drama and excitement at it's best. And, it felt like something was happening, like really happening.

For me, I liken it to a strong shaking off of the 'dead of winter'... a sloughing off of what hasn't worked, was has been stalled. With Mercury just coming out of retrograde, a lot has felt tense, bound up, incomplete. Last night and the tempest that arrived seemed like a release; a mighty release.

Winter is a the season of deep reckoning. We look at what we endeavored for in the prior year; we take up the fruits of the labors that came to bounty, but we're left looking also at the dried husks and dead stalks of what didn't bear, what didn't blossom - of seeds planted and nurtured, but with no outcome.

It's time to let that go, to separate the chaff and to rid ourselves of whatever we're hanging on to. No point in holding onto the by-product, the cast off, the over-burden. We need to seek the new growth.

Not angrily, but with some understanding that no effort is wasted. Even that which is discarded after the harvest becomes the fertile soil for next year's planting. And that is where we are at, now, on this day.

"Behold, my friends, the Spring has come; the Earth has gladly received the embraces of the Sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!"

Sitting Bull

So, what can you lay to rest, and what can you whither down to husk and seed, where you might just find the germ, the kernel, the bij... and plant again?

Tend, and let go; reap and harvest, but also let some lay fallow and let that which should pass to decompose. From that, build strong roots and reach high.

Spring is upon us; the energetic shift has announced itself. Whether you reckon it as the Equinox, or the longer days; as Ostara (the predecessor to Easter) or Alban Eiler (the Light of the Shining Earth), celebrate this time of transition!

Let the season change, let the cycle spin, let the circle be unbroken.

Give thanks and praise!

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Getting Edgy in Your Practice - C'mon Up to the Campfire!

21/2/2013

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Within the flickering light and warmth of the flame, but not consumed…

Within the asana practice, there can be times of struggle and times of ease; times where we feel the need to coax just a little more out of it, and times where we realize that we are simply coasting through it. We need to be aware of those moments that take us from our intention and attention, or attraction, to the natural and innate tendencies to push too hard, or to simply drift away into the ease and mindlessness.

The edge: not the ‘edge’ where they say "if you aren’t living on the you’re taking up too much space". No, the edge of the practice, that vital space of information and transformation; any less effort and our mind wanders out of the asana practice – any more effort and we would abuse the subtlety of pranayama and lose the benefit of the practice!

So, I would liken this ‘edge’ in the practice to a campfire – come along for my story.

The campfire is warm and it represents safety; its light and warmth are a comfort and it’s a refuge from the darkness. The light keeps the critters away, it casts a protective circle - the heat keeps you warm and contained, and present. The dancing of the flames on the embers is entrancing, mesmerizing, and timeless. It’s what is happening, it’s the primary conversion of energy that we can participate in, it offers purification and possibility; and, potentially danger as well.

If we rush too quickly towards that edge, the campfire, we may stumble, or create too much momentum and not stop in time. We may choke on the smoke, we may get cinders in our eyes, and we may singe our eyebrows or even be injured in the manifestation of the fire! We lose clarity, we hurt ourselves, we gasp and recoil, and we cause stress.

If we tarry, or we hesitate, we also may suffer. We may remain cold and distant; we may be lost outside of the safety and comfort of the circle of light. We may be prey to those things in the shadows that aren’t pleasant, and without the light of the campfire, we may imagine them to be larger or more persistent than they are. We would miss the community, the reverence, the dancing lights of the embers and flames, the energetic exchange of the fire and folk.

And, what is the ‘edge detector?' How do we know that we aren’t playing with fire, or giving ourselves a cold shoulder? The breath: the breath is the detector of the edge in our practice.

Does it lose the quality of mindfulness when we don’t fully engage and bring ourselves into the asana – not the 'fullest expression' - just engaged integrity and focus? Does it become shallow and unattended and does the mind wander? If you can plan your day, you should rather commit to being present and engaging in the practice; find more sensation and engagement, come a little closer to the flame.

Likewise, do you take every offered intensification and expression, greedily rushing in, mindless of the edge and then finding yourself gasping, panting, mouth-breathing? If we rush too quickly to the heat and the transformation or purification, we can’t sustain - and contain - the healthy fire without the pranayama.

A difficult question to take into our practice – are there poses where you know you sacrifice the breath in order to ‘nail’ the pose? What is the benefit of that?? Does the expression of the asana that you seek undermine the integrity of the pranayama and turn you into a mouth-breather?? Sweet lil' blue-faced baby cow-hugging Krishna, forbid it!

That’s why I like this metaphor of the ‘edge’ and the campfire. Don’t rush in and get burned and ruin your trip; but don’t hang out in the cold woods and get bit by a big bad wolf!! Practice working gently to and fro, right at the threshold where you maximize the internal mantra of ‘I am breathing in, I am breathing out’ and let that be the whole of your mind.

Breath, linked to engaged expression in posture: Pranayama, Asana, and perhaps, Pratyahara – the intentional withdrawal from your senses and into the moment in front of you – and edgy concept, but a worthy one!

Give thanks and praise, see you ‘round the campfire!

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If We Can Be In Love With Someone Who Is Away From Us, Can't We Be In Love With Someone Who Is Gone From Us?

14/2/2013

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A letter to his dead wife...

I've posted this before, but it's so resonant and on point for this day... I'm a bit of a sentimentalist when it comes to loving your partner, and the desire to know and experience connection unbound, unending and unseverable.

I'm not enough of a sentimentalist to think it's clouds and harps, but I'm always inspired when one of my heroes and mentors (and most rational and excellent bongo-playing man of science) gets me weepy with his words.

From the incredible Richard Feynman... here's the story. In June of 1945, Arline Feynman — high-school sweetheart and wife of the hugely influential physicist, Richard Feynman — passed away after succumbing to tuberculosis. She was 25-years-old.

16 months later, in October of 1946, Richard wrote his late wife the following love letter and sealed it in an envelope. It remained unopened until after his death in 1988.

October 17, 1946

D’Arline,

I adore you, sweetheart.

I know how much you like to hear that — but I don't only write it because you like it — I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you.

It is such a terribly long time since I last wrote to you — almost two years but I know you'll excuse me because you understand how I am, stubborn and realistic; and I thought there was no sense to writing.

But now I know my darling wife that it is right to do what I have delayed in doing, and that I have done so much in the past. I want to tell you I love you. I want to love you. I always will love you.

I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead — but I still want to comfort and take care of you — and I want you to love me and care for me. I want to have problems to discuss with you — I want to do little projects with you. I never thought until just now that we can do that. What should we do. We started to learn to make clothes together — or learn Chinese — or getting a movie projector. Can't I do something now? No. I am alone without you and you were the "idea-woman" and general instigator of all our wild adventures.

When you were sick you worried because you could not give me something that you wanted to and thought I needed. You needn’t have worried. Just as I told you then there was no real need because I loved you in so many ways so much. And now it is clearly even more true — you can give me nothing now yet I love you so that you stand in my way of loving anyone else — but I want you to stand there. You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive.

I know you will assure me that I am foolish and that you want me to have full happiness and don't want to be in my way. I'll bet you are surprised that I don't even have a girlfriend (except you, sweetheart) after two years. But you can't help it, darling, nor can I — I don't understand it, for I have met many girls and very nice ones and I don't want to remain alone — but in two or three meetings they all seem ashes. You only are left to me. You are real.

My darling wife, I do adore you.

I love my wife. My wife is dead.

Rich.

PS Please excuse my not mailing this — but I don't know your new address.

For the loved, the beloved, those here in arms and those lost to us and only held in the heart and mind. Here's to love, across the units we can measure and beyond those we can comprehend.

Give thanks and praise, and be loved, loving and beloved. Say it, it won't hurt you: mean it and it will fulfill you.

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Mindfulness - In Your Observations, Your Abstentions and Your Relationships!

11/2/2013

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Big month out there - lots of energetics in the planets, we've got the Mardi Gras and beginning of Lenten Season, and of course, the holiday where we are extolled to show our love by doing arcane actions in a mindless and pointless way - one romantic's opinion.

These times remind me that I work with a concept, personally and in my teaching - it's simple, but as all disciplines, in its simplicity is its challenge. Here is my premise, I've posted this before, but this past week I said it in context in class, and then it was quoted on FB - given the times, it's on point:

Do what you are doing while you are doing it - that's the entire, simplistic and yet most complicated point of this post. Let's break it down.

Do what you are doing - that means approach it like yoga - rather than union, think of linking. Linking yourself completely to the action or moment at hand. Not in projection or obsession on the outcome, but just in an engaged and present way. That also means leaving history in the past; don't approach it with all of the former experiences or occurrences, both good and bad at the forefront of your mind, for in doing so, you are repeating history, not crafting the present.

Let me make it a little more tangible - right now; is your singular intent reading this? Really, I'm flattered, but are you eating or drinking something? Listening to music? Have multiple windows open and actively panning for excitement, or simply just hanging out somewhere in public but checking out some blogs and then some people, then whatever?

The question is, is that how your practice goes? Are you elsewhere, making big or small plans? Checking out ideas in your head, remembering the good times, thinking about what you'll eat later? It's natural, it's the practice, to understand that tendency to disassociate and pull away into reflection, distraction, projection - anything but the experience or sensation at hand.

Can you use the breath, as the yuj - the link - the one thing that binds you to what you are doing? Can you experiment with simply trying to give your fullness to one thing alone? In the asana practice, the linking of breath and body and engagement; perhaps in your life for a selected experiment. A time without multitasking, without rampant sensory input, perhaps driving while not listening to music and making a call while texting!

Perhaps, just to be present to your loved one, to only listen to a song, to just simply read a book. To just do what you are doing while you are doing it.

Perhaps that can be working experiment for you as you transcend your practice from the safety of the laboratory and into the screaming mess we call life. Where do you most easily get distracted? What are your multitasks that are productive, but which are the ones that are distracting... when is the last time that the only thing you did was listen, or read, or think?

Give it a try, let me know what it feels like to feel what you’re doing and do what you're feeling!

Give thanks and praise.

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"Searching For an Ironic Title" because this blog is about a dream but my last post was about MLK!

28/1/2013

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Last night I had a dream. Yes, I mean for real, this isn't some metaphoric or poetic opening. I'm going to tell you a story of 'reality' as interpreted by my varying levels of consciousness.

I had a dream. Or shall we say, I recall a dream I had. I'm pretty sure that we all dream, no matter what that word might mean to you, we have subconscious brain activity in deeper sleep phases and from that we can experience real emotions in addition to having crazy images and situations somehow make sense.

Recall or recollecting dreams is unusual for me - I don't often have any sensation of having dreamt, and I don't really miss it or pine for it. Rather, from the time in my life when I did actively dream, I remember not liking it. All of my recollections of dreams include really banal and boring situations. I never flew, I never had interesting characters or crazy plot twists - I didn't have fantasies, not even nightmares.

I am the person who when I dream, it's just like reality, but without basis. What that means is in my dreams, I'm just doing everyday things. Like, when I say 'work dream', most people relate to that via any number of ideas: being naked at work, being at work and having an unending amount of work, being at work and not knowing anyone, etc.

For me, it's like having a second job, without pay. I would just have these incredibly normal dreams. So normal, in fact, that I would often later disagree or argue with or blame someone for having a shitty memory, because I would've had a dream, so plain and real, where we had this discussion, and to me, it felt more like a memory than a recollection of a dream.

Not sure how, mostly because of my personal weird sleep cycle, but I 'stopped' dreaming somewhere around 20 years ago. I might have two or three a year I remember, but that's it. And, I don't feel insane, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything, either an active imagination or the processing. It's just how I roll and slumber.

Back to my point. I remembered a lot of my boring and banal, conversational dream last night, and here's what I'm moved by:

In a non-descript, calm room. Hanging out with a non-existent person who I feel is more than an acquaintance, but less than a 'good friend'. I trust him, we are talking, it's nothing serious, I'm relaxed.

He changes the subject and says "you know, you use a lot of controlling language..." and I'm not shocked or angered, but simply intrigued. He repeats the same sentence, but this time qualifies it by saying "... when you are teaching class. That's when you language becomes really controlling."

Interestingly, again, I'm not feeling defensive, but curious. So I respond along the lines of "indeed, but I am there to facilitate, and while that means make easy, it also means to make - as in, I'm supposed to be in control." I add some other rationale about letting the students relinquish control, which means I had to hold it for them.

Then, i woke up. Not feeling unresolved, but soaking in that small but important interchange. Now, the flip side of having mundane dreams is that I can't just easily dismiss that info - it's just too rational and direct. And, I can get all Jungian and go right to analysis - relating it to life.

I did have a conversation last week with someone in my yoga community. We encourage feedback and give it to each other when we've been in classes. He noted that I - and I paraphrase here - 'withheld info during transitions in the class in order to control how the students moved, both in tempo and in alignment'. Not a negative critique, but a salient observation. We dialoged a bit; I feel that I can easily admit to it, from the function of I prefer students to go from 'foundation to engagement to expression' rather than simply stating the pose and then trying to get their feet right.

An example: if the students are just stepping into a lunge and I say "Warrior 1", more than half of the students will immediately rise up, arms overhead, and then start adjusting their feet, while their core sags.

I'm starting from the place where I'd like you to set your front foot, pivot and ground your rear foot, engage your low core, and then lift up, arms overhead in the pose - foundation, engagement, expression.

How about this? I'd like you to put the ladder on firm ground, then climb up, then reach for the tree limb - not run up the ladder and bounce around at the top like Charlie Chaplin waving your arms around.

Ha, you can tell, it's a good topic, I've got some feeling about it, and I can easily create a rationale. However, in the 'real world' conversation where this was going on, all of that was accepted and acknowledged, even praised for it's stability and theory - but my friend came right back to something akin to 'all of that's alright, but I'd still say you use your language to control the room'.

I agreed, but also had to say, expressed that directly, I didn't really care for it! As in, "I've got to examine that and think on it." So, think on it I must be, if it comes to me in the other world almost identically to how it presents in this world.

Not sure what the message is beside pay attention to that, where does it show up, why, and where else does it show up that I'm not aware of yet? One excellent place to process it will be in the yoga room - either as teacher, listening and observing as I teach and as a student, listening and finding resonance or friction with others words, tones, styles and intentions.

Interesting in the way that we get all the info we need about ourselves in any way that Spirit can serve it - then, the question is, can we quiet down enough to hear the call, and can we turn inward and do the deep seeking and do the work?

I'll close with words heard in class last week, simple words, but with much resonance - "If you can, you must - there is no other choice!"

Give thanks and praise!

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Dream a Dream - Today and Everyday...

21/1/2013

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"Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down on him
So let it be
So let it be

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on him.." - U2

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The Heart Knows Better - Step 12 to Happiness

22/12/2012

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Thanks for being patient with me... here I am to wrap up the 12 Steps to Happiness.

First, I got a little derailed by very unhappy events; then, you know, I hedged my bets - if the world was gonna end, did you need the last step? However, here we are; no drama, no great cataclysmic traumas, and full on into the holidays.

Hope you had a great Solstice, and partied for the 'last-first' day, our new Baktun! Let's just say, we love a threshold. Most folks don't just make resolutions out of the blue. We like significant dates, big events, large meaning behind the 'shift', so that we can align. New Year's resolutions, waiting for some arbitrary, yet significant date, to decide to do something.

Perhaps that is fitting - doesn't have to be total destruction to make changes... maybe it's just enough to have the shift occur. Let's hope we can move forward from a lot of the shite that has been 'business as usual' for so long. To bad it takes tragedy to make outrage to encourage change, but that is where we are.

Back to happiness: a birthright, a condition, an exercise and a life-saver. I know this past week it's been a difficult choice to make, to focus on that which is good, beneficial, worthy; but just as at any other time, it's right there for that asking.

Our minds seek reasons, so we assign blame - we make others into "THE OTHER" and then cause more separation as we all try to convince each other of our 'small truths'. I'm not immune or innocent; which brings me back to this post. The mind is divisive, but the heart knows better. Yes it does.

When we find that sweetness, when we can take ourselves out of the spinning monkey mind, and just still ourselves, let the emotions be processed, release the anger and sorrow, quiet the errant thoughts and really get into our feelings, the heart knows better.

Thus, there's only one thing to do:

Make it last forever
Make it last forever
Yes, it's been a long time coming

There's a name for this one
There's a name for that
Call me by my true name
I'll call you back
But I've no intention of seeking you out

And the mind's divisive
But the heart knows better
Better...

Did you know that the heart sends more electrical impulses to the brain than the brain does to the heart? By a factor of nine times, so it's pretty clear we are wired to 'know better.' What gets in the way - our thoughts, our opinions, our prejudices, our non-negotiables, our need to be heard, to be right, and of course, our need for indignation.

Happiness, it's a choice. It's made with the heart, and it's defeated in the head. The heart is the seat of our relationship with others, how we emote who we truly are and how we connect. The head is for logic, the heart for emotion. Emotions of all sorts, which is why we need to have a real relationship with ourselves - either a mindfulness practice of some sort, or another ability to observe our own thoughts, to still the mind and to discern where we get in our own way.

This past month, I've experienced a powerful teaching. I 'fell out of' relationship with a friend and mentor I cared about, who I respected and who I wanted to grow closer with. In the absence of good communication, I started to 'fill in the blanks' and what a story I created! I mean, it was insane in my head, but it all made the sense I needed it to, and I could make her all wrong and me the victim.

I had the chance to communicate about it, and what should've been my sorrow and my hurt from my heart became an very heady endeavor to convince her how wrong she was, how horrible she had treated me, how wronged I'd been. Great fantasy I had created, but in my mind I was so right.

Luckily, she's no chump, so she shot straight back. Well, we're human; it got into parsing each others words and actions, lots of recriminations and then all of the sudden I realized that I was creating more and more separation, when the original goal was to reconnect! Crazy, but it's not that unusual. But, I find less and less interest in creating separation and more and more interest in finding connection - that's the work.

Rage, that's when anger isn't processed; luckily we didn't rage! Anger, it's what occurs when sorrow isn't processed - often times it's easier to lash out than to go inward and do the work, to really examine the emotions and get to the root cause. I wasn't fooling me, I knew better. I know hurt, just like many of us, don't enjoy it and can replace it really easily. Doesn't make it go away - doesn't make me want to have 'it last forever' in that state.

Thankfully, neither one of us is a quitter, so I took it all in, took some clarifying time and re-wrote everything from "here's what I assumed, here's what I felt, here's what hurt me, here's where I feel the sorrow." And, the response I got was all about "I can totally see that, of course, that makes sense. Here's what happened and while I should've done this and you should've done this, it only matters that we care, we want to be in relationship and we both knew better."

Yes, the mind's divisive, but the heart knows better. Can you recognize when it's all a mind trip? Can you dip into your feelings and examine them, and let go of the need to be right? Can you check the hurt and sorrow before it's anger, or the anger at least before it becomes rage? Seems like that might be the message of the time.

Maybe it's not that profound; it actually feels startlingly simple. In concept perhaps, but the work is arduous.

While all of the lyrics aren't on point, and some of them fairly obtuse, I've been informed by the song I'm quoting here for almost a decade, and the artist who recorded it for over three decades. Enjoy a clip of it at the end of the post - haunting, beautiful, informative.

Are you absent from the place you ought to be? Do you experience the devastating beauty? Can you make it last forever?

And the mind's divisive
But the heart knows better
Better...

When she whispered in my ear
What did she say?
She put her hand hard on my chest
What did she say?
Oh, but nothing really matters in the end
And if everything still matters what then?

And the air is humid and my face is wet
And the driver's much too drunk too see
But she's sitting in my place
Devastating beauty in my place
And I'm absent from the place I ought to be

And the mind's divisive
But the heart knows better
Better...

David Sylvian - The Heart Knows Better.

That's what I've got - hope you found something to take away. I'm off tomorrow for the Holidays in Holland. I'll be posting from there about whatever comes up, what I'm seeing and doing! You might enjoy it, I've got an afro wig I'm planning on busting out, and Amsterdam never fails to provide photo ops!

Thanks for checking out my Steps to Happiness. I'd say these steps aren't like a ladder or a staircase, but more like moving stepping stones in the large pond of our lives - there's no one right path, there's no map, there's no assurance that anything matters in the end, and if not, what then?

Sometimes the driver's much to drunk to see - sometimes we make it last forever. But, guaranteed, that mind is divisive and the heart does truly know better.

Which one will you listen to? Which will inform, create and sustain happiness? Check it - work it - feel it. Then, make that devastating beauty last forever, make it last forever...

Give thanks and praise - tot ziens!!

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What Must Be Said??

14/12/2012

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I was planning on wrapping up my 12 Steps to Happiness today, but events make that seem inappropriate. Thus, I'll offer this brief piece, for your consideration.

Times such as these remind us of the randomness of circumstance, the swift and fleeting nature of our relationships, of our connections, and of our ability to love, be loved and show love. I've seen many postings today, from sweet suggestions to outright admonishments... all of them share an idea.

Tell folks you love that you love them. Let them know it, let them hear it. Just say it when you feel it, say it until you are stupid with it, never regret saying it and never leave a loved one without acknowledging that bond. It's simple, and today it seems like a great idea.

Don't wait for tragedy to say it, to feel it and to remember it. We know not what will happen, we are not in control - I mean, really, we are so pitifully out of control and create so many artifices that give us false evidence of power, influence and security - yet they are just that, artifice.

Today, say what must be said, and then say it again, and again and again. And, do it tomorrow and for all tomorrows. Say what you are not saying - have the conversation with the other, not in your head - don't assume 'they know I love them' but drill it into them via sweet repetition. And, when we really think about what we aren't saying, it comes down to four simple statements.

"I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you."

This simple set of declarative statements, or mantras - whichever resonates for you - is what is known as the Ho'oponopono. It's available, it's comprehensive, it's something to be done personally as a meditation or mindfulness practice, but it also serves as a template for reconciliation.

Look to it - are there conversations you should be having, finishing, cleaning up, or clarifying? Are there folks in your life who need to hear what hasn't been said - and wouldn't you be served by letting it out in words and with compassion, both for yourself and for all others?

Repeat it a few times internally... then, in a quiet place, speak one of the statements aloud - feel how it resonates, listen to what it stirs up, observe how you feel. I know that when I simple think of a person I'm in relationship with, whether positively or at odds, and I simply begin by saying one of those lines, the rest of what I need to say flows effortlessly.

Please, take a moment, stop and contemplate, then reach out and connect. Say what you would want to hear, say what folks need to hear. Speak your truth, with kindness, empathy and compassion. Forgive yourself and others, move towards love and thanks.

And, give thanks and praise! The world is random and cruel, it is our application of grace that makes all things better. Be well.

Finally, "I'm sorry - please forgive me. Thank you - I love you."

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Aspire to Inspire - Step 11 to Happiness.

5/12/2012

1 Comment

Yeah!!! I really like this topic... took a few days' breather in order to be able to offer my thoughts. There's some learning in this one, so take a big inhale - take a long exhale.

We're all looking for inspiration - from Rumi quotes, to good deeds witnessed, to the perseverance and triumph of the human spirit, to a simple comforting hand or word. It's important, as we link inspiration to imagination, creativity, manifestation and hope.

All of us have been inspired, some of the best and most humble among us have been inspirations to others. Whether we are close to someone, or simply their unknown admirer, we love to be inspired to reach for new things, grow to new heights, stretch to new limits.

"Let my inspiration flow in token rhyme, suggesting rhythm,
That will not forsake you, till my tale is told and done.
While the firelight's aglow, strange shadows from the flames will grow,
Till things we've never seen will seem familiar.

Grateful Dead

We aspire to be inspired, surely - but, can we aspire to inspire? You know me, it's all contained in the 'bij' - the essence or root, the most reduced and simple meanings of the word.

We're going to start with Spirit or spirit, uppercase or lowercase, whatever makes you comfortable. A side note of interest - most sacred languages have a distinct word for 'life force' that differs from 'spirit'; e.g. animus vs. spiritus and soma vs. pneuma. And, the words in both Greek and Hebrew for spirit are the same for wind, or air in movement.

Let's check the source material, get back to basics, before a lot of mouths go on these words:

Spirit (n.) "animating or vital principle in man and animals," from Old French espirit, derived from the Latin spiritus "soul, courage, vigor, breath." Spiritus is directly related to spirare "to breathe," which stems from Proto Indo-European *(s)peis- "to blow".

For the most part, we find the majority of the original usage in English mainly coming from passages in the Vulgate, where the Latin word spiritus translates from the Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruah.

The later distinction between "soul" and "spirit" (as the "seat of emotions") became current in much later Christian terminology (for instance, again using the Greek psykhe vs. pneuma, or the Latin anima vs. spiritus). Spiritus, in classical Latin simply meaning "breath," replaces animus in the sense "spirit" and then only later starts to take on the supernatural connotations it may imply today.

Aspire (v.) "to strive for," from Old French aspirer "aspire to; inspire; breathe, breathe on." Again, directly from the Latin aspirare "to breathe upon, to breathe," but also taking on the later meanings "to be favorable to, assist; to climb up to, to endeavor to obtain, to reach to, to seek to reach; infuse." The word is constructed from ad- "to" + spirare "to breathe". The notion is of "panting with desire," or "giving the climb your all," "rising like smoke or incense vapors" even.

Inspiration (n.) "immediate influence of God or a god," especially that under which the holy books were written! Hmm, that's a good one. Divine inspiration, being breathed into by the creative force.

Inspiration comes from the Old French inspiracion "inhaling, breathing in; inspiration." We can now recognize this from the Latin and Late Latin form inspirationem (or if you prefer the nominative - inspiratio). This is the noun of action, from the Latin stem inspirare "inspire, inflame, blow into." The word is constructed from in- "in" + spirare "to breathe".

From inflame, as in to blow on the fire, to create dynamic tapas and alchemical change, to the literal sense of the "act of inhaling," it wasn't until the late 1800s that the meaning "one who inspires others" was developed.

"Inspiration, move me brightly. light the song with sense and color;
Hold away despair. More than this I will not ask,
Faced with mysteries dark and vast, statements just seem vain at last.
Some rise, some fall, some climb..."

Grateful Dead

It's that simple... we're living, we're breathing.

There is something very simple about it, the inhale as inspiration, the exhale as expiration; there's also something deeper than the simple respiratory exchange. We take in life force, the animating spirit within us, that rider of the horse, the observer of the self, the one who can ask who is asking this question while listening to it being asked - that is spirit.

But, then, there is Spirit: whether that be divinely ordained, as simple as all living beings amounting to godhead, as animating as the forces that bind the atoms or as pervasive and ineffable as the universe, we are moved and can move others.

And, yes, sometimes it is a climb. Sometimes we have to fan the flames. Sometimes we need a kick-start, a community, a place that reminds us to aspire. That inspires us to reach and stretch and grow, and not simply in the Pursuit of Happiness, but rather in the Creation of Happiness.

Remember, in a pursuit, often something eludes the other; in a creation, both forces serve the whole. So, make it your aspiration to find and give inspiration. Sometimes that is as simple as a helping hand, a kind word, an extra good deed to a stranger or a nice moment reflecting on something you've witnessed.

Let me leave you with one more word - one I suggest that we 're-appropriate' and take back, out of the pejorative and into the affirmative and inspiring. I suggest we take back this word:

conspire (v.) comes from the Old French conspirer which comes from the Latin conspirare "to agree, unite," but more literally simply translates as "to breathe together." The word is constructed from com- "together" + spirare "to breathe".

This very might have been in regards to musical performances, singing or instruments, where perhaps the notion draws from the alternate definition "to blow together," i.e., "to sound in unison." Seems like the notion of "to plot together" comes along much later.

What if we take back conspiracy and elect to be co-conspirators of inspiration! I'm in, sounds like a good time, or a great yoga class!

Give thanks and praise - this series is almost coming to close, I hope you've been at least entertained, maybe a little enlightened, and hopefully taken something or things from what I've written.

Check back for the final installment of the series, Step 12 to Happiness - The Heart Knows Better!

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<<Previous

Garbage In, Sure! But is There Garbage Out?

Happy New Year - or is that Ostara - or Alban Eiler?!?

Getting Edgy in Your Practice - C'mon Up to the Campfire!

If We Can Be In Love With Someone Who Is Away From Us, Can't We Be In Love With Someone Who Is Gone From Us?

Mindfulness - In Your Observations, Your Abstentions and Your Relationships!

"Searching For an Ironic Title" because this blog is about a dream but my last post was about MLK!

Dream a Dream - Today and Everyday...

The Heart Knows Better - Step 12 to Happiness

What Must Be Said??

Aspire to Inspire - Step 11 to Happiness.

Chrispy - Bhagat Singh

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